Month: November 2015

The longer high school football seasons are, the greater the exposure to brain trauma risk. The Will Smith movie “Concussion,” opening next month, will present disturbing material about head injuries in the N.F.L. My book “The Game’s Not Over,” out next month, will present disturbing material about the far larger concussion risk in high school football — some 150,000 high school football concussions annually, some linked to protracted seasons and bigger postseason brackets.
People who think football is a wonderful sport — count me in! — may be tempted to believe there’s sufficient progress against concussions. There is not. One important reform would be to shorten high school football seasons, so that less brain-trauma risk is run by the overwhelming majority of players who will not get a college admission boost

If the blood test discussed in the following article turns out to really work, and I feel the concept seems like it should, this would be great.

The next major question is; can it be used for tracking recovery or validating post concussion syndrome that may be months to decades old?

I will try to contact Dr. Papa to find out her thoughts on this.

Of course, preventing concussions is key and using preemptive nutritional protocols in high risk individuals to limit the damage of a head trauma needs to studied in large human trials (I hope to be involved in this in the near future) and used now since these nutrients are not dangerous to take.
Blood Test May Detect Concussion in Kids
WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 10, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A simple blood test may one day be able to detect concussions in children, a new study suggests.
The test, which has already been used in adults, detected traumatic brain injuries in kids 94 percent of the time. More important, a negative result means a CT scan, and the radiation exposure it brings, may not be needed the researchers said.
“When a child comes in with a head injury, we have to decide whether they have a concussion,” said study author Dr. Linda Papa, an emergency medicine physician with Orlando Health in Florida.
“We also have to decide whether the child needs a CT scan,” Papa added. “CT scans are not harmless.”
A CT scan exposes the child’s brain to radiation that can cause damage, Papa explained. “The more we avoid CT scans, the better it is for the patient,” she said.
About 250,000 kids are treated each year for brain injuries such as concussions, according to Papa. A simple test that could take the guesswork out of diagnosing these kids could change the way concessions are identified, she said.
Papa developed the test, but has no financial interest in it. “For my patients, I think it’s going to make a huge difference. I didn’t do this for financial benefit, I did it because I wanted to have a blood test that we could use to help people,” she said.
The study, which was published in the November issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, was funded in part by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The blood test measures levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). This protein is found in cells that surround neurons in the brain. When the brain is injured, GFAP is released into the bloodstream, making it easy to detect, Papa said.
To read the rest of the article:

Neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu makes the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, and fights for the truth to be known. His emotional quest puts him at dangerous odds with one of the most powerful – and beloved – institutions in the world. Based on a true story.